Exclusive Interview - Suki Doll
For the interview I’m wearing one of my favourite jumpers but I’m instantly out-jumpered by Suki Doll! What else did I expect from this stylist fashion Queen! After our jumper debate we start the interview properly.
Sadly your time on the show has been come to an end but before we get onto that my first questions is when did you discover you wanted to do drag?
When I discovered Drag… you know what, one of my ex’s was a Drag Queen and he put me in drag and then I looked at myself like I’m so fabulous! So I guess that's when, that’s when for me that I realized that I wanted to start doing Drag and to live my adulthood in this fabulous woman form or a Drag form that my Mother didn't have. That was what I realized is a multiple factor that came into it and that’s become symbolic in my life and become… my life actually, for eight years actually, almost a decade ago.
“I also come from a migrant family that emigrated, so if your family took the chance to leave their homeland behind to come to a new country and you’re not even using that fighting chance, who are you? I couldn’t face my Mother that worked three jobs a day and brought me up and not even use those chances”
This week’s mini challenge was my favourite, the reading challenge. Unfortunately, we only got to see one of your reads which was hilarious! Can you tell us one of your reads that they didn’t manage to squeeze into the episode? If you can remember…
Yes of course I remember, one of them was for Stephanie Prince (eliminated the episode before Suki Doll) that just left so I was calling back to her, I turned around and said Stephanie (but she's not there right so) Stephanie, you look like a cheap version of me but I guess they did send the doppelgangers home!
In my opinion your looks are fit for the cover of Vogue! Where do you get your sense of style from?
I get my sense of stuff from my Mom. She's the fashion descendant in the house and since I was a child she was putting me in all these outfits and she's forcing me to wear these like tight cute shoes, so I guess fashion comes from my Mother and she's always accessorized. Even as a guy I have jewellery on all the time, it's all from her. I did go to fashion school of course, fashion is just in my blood, it's just everywhere in me.
This week was Snatch Game which wasn’t a highlight for you. Here is the full tea though, I actually hate Snatch Game, I rarely find it that funny even if someone does well. Why do you think it’s held in such high regard in the Drag Race Fandom?
Snatch Game is iconic just because being able to do Snatch Game properly is where you showcase your wittiness, that your charcter is well thought out and it puts a lot of skill sets together. You have to be able to act, you have to be to do the look and you have to be able to do the makeup! It’s so many aspects of drag put together and then elevating it in another state. I’m not saying I didn’t do an elevated Snatch Game, it's just it wasn't funny. What people love about drag is the comedy so I believe Snatch Game is where it reaches all the joints, that's why everyone's excited to see who stands out and that's the most difficult one, it puts on a lot of pressure. I did well in my perspective, kidding!
I imagine Snatch Game is very hard when you're there and of course the show cuts it up so it looks nice and seamless but when you're there in the moment is it really intense?
It’s really hard Michael! I can tell you so much you have to live through it, doing it and knowing that you're doing it badly is even worse because you have the stay in character. It's edited but of course as we understand it it’s a big film and most of the people are talking so it's a bit more lengthy than what we see, knowing that you're not performing so well and staying in character is key because the camera's rolling, you can't be caught off guard. It’s so much pressure!
I can only imagine, if you got the chance to do it again what character would you pick?
Well I was going to do Bretman Rock, they are really more online but he’s iconic, he's also from the AAPI community.
Now I must mention how you came across on the show! It was so refreshing to see someone throw themselves into the challenges even if it might have made you look stupid and then accept the fact that even when you did badly you owned it and accepted it was your mistake, unlike some of your sisters. Where did get that positive mentality form?
I wonder who you could be talking about.
I couldn’t possible say!
Well you know what Michael, I come from the project, so what it means is the projects are a neighborhood that's got a lot of migrants. I come for a project where we didn't have all the opportunities, so for me, my take in life is to not waste those opportunities because from our project, not everybody has opportunities to fight, not everyone is given a fighting chance. When you do have one, (I call it a short stick) you have a short stick or a longer stick, whatever your opportunities and chances are you have the stick! If you have the stick to be able to fight and you're not fighting, it's just a waste and it's a shame. I also come from a migrant family that emigrated, so if your family took the chance to leave their homeland behind to come to a new country and you’re not even using that fighting chance, who are you? I couldn’t face my Mother that worked three jobs a day and brought me up and not even use those chances. For me to sit there and complain and not use your chances, it's just ridiculous, it's not in my reality, so in short, my perspective comes from my upbringing and from my Mother. She's a hard worker and she's the reason I’m here. To let down my chances is letting down my family, letting down my Mother, I would never do that. I'm not that type of child, I will always represent, I will always make everyone proud to the best of my ability.
What do you see in your future?
Oh it's a lot of beautiful dresses, I see a lot of money. You know, Drag Race, that's the beauty of it, you have so many possibilities and so many things that you didn’t even expect. I'm having brand deals with companies that I didn't expect would reach out to me. Not because I didn't expect it for myself, I didn't expect those types of products being joined with drag. Drag is now so international and so in pop culture that you don't know where it goes. There's so many new surprises and I can't wait myself to see it. I wish I had definite answer for you Michael, there's just new things every day. Fashion for sure! Travel and luxury and a lot of it.
Shout out time – Who would you like to give a shout-out to and why?
My shout out will be to my sister Kiki Coe, she's my sister from Call Me Mother, a new drag show on TV and it takes a diverse take on drag.
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Photography - Courtesy of World of Wonder
Note: Some of this interview has been edited from the original transcript to help with readability.